THE MAJOR'S MASSIVE MEMORIES

A VAST COLLECTION OF CLASSIC HIT SONGS REPRESENTING 21 YEARS OF GREAT MEMORIES FOR MAJOR HITWAVES

1 9 8 6

PK	WKS	PTS	YRS	SONG TITLE & COMMENTS	ARTIST / SITE
5	11	262	1986	All I Need Is A Miracle About a year before Genesis released their blockbuster # 1 album "Invisible Touch" Mike Rutherford formed his own side project band. This was the follow-up to their debut hit "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)". It was a U.S. TOP 5 smash during the Spring Of '86, but it failed to crack the TOP 50 in the U.K. Mike & The Mechanics continued to release singles in the U.K. throughout the entire 1990s, and even this hit was re-released in 1996 and made it onto the U.K. TOP 30.	Mike & The Mechanics
5	11	254	1986	Brand New Lover It was one of my favourite dance songs from the mid-1980s. Although it hit # 5 right here on this chart it was an unexpected failure on the U.K. chart - peaking at a lowly # 31. (It actually made the TOP 15 here in the U.S.)	Dead Or Alive
2	16	458	1986	Breakout This was their "Breakout" single from October of 1986. It's from their debut album "It's Better To Travel". It soared to # 4 on the U.K. pop chart, and it hit # 2 on our chart at the time. Its 16 weeks on our chart was quite remarkable at the time. It took about a year for it to "Breakout" in the U.S. market, but once it did it was a runaway smash that spent over 5 months on the U.S. pop chart.	Swing Out Sister
23	9	89	1986	Calling All The Heroes It Bites scored their first and only U.K. chart smash during the Summer Of 1986 as this hard-rockin' pop tune hit # 6. Their follow-up single - "Whole New World" - only managed to get to # 54 a couple of months later, but it was a # 1 smash here on our chart. Both songs were featured on "The Big Lad In The Windmill" album.	It Bites
2	15	385	1986 & 1989	Chain Reaction 17 years ago Diana Ross and The Bee Gees were at the top of their game. They scored a multi-week # 1 smash in the U.K. with "Chain Reaction". It was written and co-produced by The Bee Gees, and they also provided backing vocals for Diana Ross. It was one of the first big hits on our extremely young chart at the time. The Major was also quite young at the time - 18 years young. Back then he was discovering the beautiful countryside of Gloucestershire England while listening to "Steve Wright In The Afternoon" on BBC Radio 1.	Diana Ross With The Bee Gees
3	10	287	1986	Dancing On The Ceiling What is happening here ? Something's going on that's not quite clear. Somebody turn on the light. We're gonna have a party. It's starting tonight. Oh, what a feeling when we're "Dancing On The Ceiling". Oh, what a feeling when we're "Dancing On The Ceiling". The room is hot, and that's good. Some of my friends came by from the neighbourhood. People were starting to climb the walls. Ooh, it looks like everybody is having a ball ...	Lionel Richie
6	18	517	1986	Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone Glass Tiger (originally known as Tokyo) were from Newmarket Ontario Canada, and this was their worldwide breakthrough pop smash during the Autumn of 1986. It reached # 2 on the U.S. pop chart in October 1986, and # 6 right here on our own pop chart a month later. They would follow that up with the # 1 smash (on our chart) "Someday" in January 1987.	Glass Tiger
1	12	315	1986	Don't Leave Me This Way Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles were The Communards from 1985 to 1988, and this was their biggest hit - a # 1 MASSIVESMASH for 4 weeks on the U.K. chart - and also our young chart at the time. It also (barely) cracked the TOP 40 in America in early-1987. The Major saw The Communards live in concert at the Oxford Apollo in England on Thursday December 04th 1986. Exactly 4 months later on Saturday April 04th 1987 Jimmy Sommerville was live in concert again, but he was with his previous group Bronski Beat. They were with New Order (among other acts) at London's Brixton Academy.	The Communards
5	4	97	1986	Eloise The Damned have been in existence for nearly 30 years since punk ruled the U.K. in 1976. By 1986 they had migrated away from punk and into goth. This was by far the biggest U.K. chart hit of their entire career. It was released in January 1986, and by the end of February it had surged all the way to # 3 on the BBC-Gallup chart (# 2 on the Independent Network chart). This hit single was added as a free bonus 12" disc to later 1986 versions of their July 1985 album "Phantasmagoria".	The Damned
2	15	488	1986	Everybody Have Fun Tonight Jack Hues and Nick Feldman were Wang Chung, and even though they were a British duo they enjoyed their greatest success here in North America. Their 1986 "Mosaic" album was responsible for 3 out of their 8 U.S. hits during the 1980s including this # 2 party smash. It peaked at # 2 on the U.S. pop chart as well as our own pop chart at the time, but it failed to even make the chart in their native U.K.	Wang Chung
1	21	714	1986 & 1987	For America Back during the Autumn Of 1986 while this chart was celebrating its 1ST anniversary in England this catchy and memorable tune from the U.K.'s own Red Box was dominating our young chart. It was on for a MASSIVE (at that time) 21 charts in a row including two charts at # 1. It was 1 of 11 songs from their breakthrough 1986 album "Circle & The Square". Some say that their unique brand of music was far ahead of its time. It can best be described as pop-dance meets world-beat meets new-age meets folk.	Red Box
1	15	611	1986 & 1987	French Kissin' (In The U.S.A.) This 1986 comeback effort was surprisingly a flop here in the U.S.A., but in the U.K. it was a MASSIVESMASH. It was Debbie Harry's only solo hit to go TOP 10 across the British Isles, and it was actually her only U.K. TOP 10 hit (with and without Blondie) during an 18-year time-span from 1981 to 1999. It was on our TOP 10 for 13 charts in a row including two charts at # 1.	Debbie Harry
--	--	--	1986	Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel The Tavares Brothers of New Bedford Mass. released a lot of singles from 1973 to 1977. Their two biggest hits were "It Only Takes A Minute" in 1975 and this gold smash that hit the TOP 15 during the Bicentennial Summer Of 1976. 10 years later in 1986 Ben Liebrand's remix propelled it to # 12 on the U.K. pop chart. Ben was also responsible for the 1987 remix of Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" (another MASSIVE Memory).	Tavares
11	4	67	1986	Hit That Perfect Beat After Jimmy Somerville left Bronski Beat to form The Communards with Richard Coles he was replaced by a new lead singer - Jon Foster. This was a TOP 3 smash on the U.K. chart for the different-sounding Bronski Beat and their new album "Truthdare Doubledare".	Bronski Beat
2	10	276	1986 & 1989	Holiday Rap Once upon a time two Dutch guys - Lucien Witteveen (M.C. Miker 'G') and Sven Van Veen (Deejay Sven) - stormed the Euro pop charts with their rap redux of Madonna's "Holiday". It was produced, arranged, and recorded by fellow Dutch DJ Ben Liebrand - the same guy behind the dance remix of "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" from The Four Seasons (another MASSIVE Memory). It spent 5 weeks at # 1 on the German pop chart. A follow-up single - "Celebration Rap" - did much less business, and then the duo went their separate ways.	M.C. Miker 'G' & Deejay Sven
2	14	398	1986	Invisible Touch Genesis has been in existence my entire life (since 1967). Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks were Genesis for about 19 years from 1977 to 1996. This was the memorable title-track of their biggest album ever, and it was their biggest U.S. hit ever - a # 1 smash in July of 1986. It spawned four additional follow-up hits - all of which hit either # 3 or # 4 stateside. I saw them LIVE in concert on Thursday July 02nd 1987 at London's Wembley Stadium. Paul Young opened for them.	Genesis
5	25	538	1986	Let's Go All The Way This was a HUGE pop smash on both sides of the Atlantic in 1986 - a year after it flopped in its initial release. It spent 6 months on the U.S. pop chart and went all the way to # 7. It spent a MASSIVE 4 months on the U.K. pop chart - reaching # 3. Gary 'Mudbone' Cooper and Michael Camacho were the voices behind this one-hit-wonder. It had a funky persistent beat with wild percussion, a catchy melody, and odd and amusing lyrics. It was accompanied by a popular video on MTV.	Sly Fox
1	11	285	1986	Living Doll 63-year-old Cliff Richard is the longest-running and most successful musician in the entire history of the British music industry. Over the past 45 years (1958-2003) he has accumulated a MASSIVE total of 115 U.K. TOP 40 hits - hitting the chart in every single year except for 1975, 1978, 1997, 2000, and 2003. One of his 14 # 1 hits included a comical 1986 remake (recorded for charity) of his very first # 1 hit from 1959 - "Living Doll". It even spent 2 weeks at # 1 on our young chart at the time. For detailed U.K. chart information on Cliff Richard's 45-year (and continuing) music career check out William's Cliff Chart Site.	Cliff Richard & The Young Ones
36	1	5	1986	Love Missile F1-11 (Shoot It Up) It was one of the strangest songs to enter our pop chart during the Spring Of 1986 while we were based out of the U.K. It was an electronic punk rock tune with a driving and pulsating beat, simple lyrics, war-like sound effects, and various sound bites from violent American movies of the past. After 25 years Sigue Sigue Sputnik are still very active recording and touring in Europe. You'll find countless web sites on them via any search engine. They were recently on the German dance chart with a new single.	Sigue Sigue Sputnik
3	14	288	1986	My Favourite Waste Of Time This is one of The Major's most memorable pop songs ever. It came out of the legendary Summer Of 1986 - the greatest Summer of pop music in The Major's entire life. This unsuspecting pop gem has never been forgotten after all of these years, for it symbolizes the sensational British Summer that was. Good times. In 2002 Owen Paul was actually featured (off-camera) on the 4TH episode of "The Osbournes" TV show. He was the neighbour that was making all of that racket that instigated the infamous long distance food fight courtesy of Ozzy and Sharon. And then the cops came ...	Owen Paul
6	5	110	1986	Nice In Nice The Stranglers have been in existence for nearly 30 years (since 1974). In 1986 they released their album "Dreamtime", and this was their leadoff single.	The Stranglers
2	4	123	1986	No One Is To Blame You can look at the menu, but you just can't eat. You can feel the cushion, but you can't have a seat. You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can't have a swim. You can feel the punishment, but you can't commit the sin. And you want her, and she wants you. We want everyone. And you want her, and she wants you. No one, no one, no one ever is to blame ... (Watch the original music video.)	Howard Jones
2	14	508	1986 & 1987	Reet Petite 29 years after its initial chart run in late-1957, and 3 years after his death in January 1984 Jackie Wilson soared to the top of the U.K. chart with the reissue of his first solo smash. It reached # 2 here on our pop chart the week before Christmas 1986. By the time "Reet Petite" had fallen off of our chart a second Jackie Wilson song had been reissued - "I Get The Sweetest Feeling". It actually surpassed "Reet Petite" and spent 2 weeks at # 1 !	Jackie Wilson
12	7	164	1986	Right Between The Eyes Andrew Gold scored a TOP 10 smash during the Summer Of 1977 with the memorable story of a "Lonely Boy". Graham Gouldman enjoyed great success with 10cc and a couple of love songs - "I'm Not In Love" (1975) and "The Things We Do For Love" (1977). A decade later Gold and Gouldman joined forces as the duo known as Wax. This pop-rockin' tune just barely missed out on the U.S. TOP 40 during the Spring Of 1986, and it peaked at # 60 on the U.K. chart. A year-and-a-half later Wax scored their greatest (and only other) chart success as a duo with the U.K. TOP 15 smash "Bridge To Your Heart".	Wax
7	8	163	1986 & 1989	Rise I need a good classic style radio station jingle done for me. I've already got the melody and the lyrics down. I just need some generic session singers to belt it out for me: Give me a song and I'll play it for you. Trance, Techno, Pop, even Punk Rock too. I'll do my best then I'll get some rest, and I'll do it all for food. The best sound in Karaoke. Major Hitwaves. This is one of those obscure punk rock tunes from my late-teen years in the U.K. that not too many people may remember, but I've got virtually all of its lyrics memorized - even after all of these years. ANGER IS AN ENERGY ! ... ANGER IS AN ENERGY !	Public Image Limited
8	10	225	1986	Same Old Story On Friday November 14th 1986 I had the distinct honour of seeing Ultravox LIVE in concert at the Oxford Apollo. I still have the black and magenta tee-shirt to prove it. Midge Ure, Chris Cross, and Billy Currie were on their U-VOX World Tour at the time to promote their final album. The lead-off single from that album was this modest U.K. TOP 40 hit. It was a TOP 10 smash here on our chart in October 1986.	Ultravox
14	9	126	1986	Sinful Pete Wylie was once in a Liverpool England band known as 'The Crucial Three' with Julian Cope (a MASSIVE Memory artist) and Ian McCullough (from Echo & The Bunnymen - another MASSIVE Memory artist). The trio barely lasted a month during the Summer Of 1977. Pete and Julian then formed 'Mystery Girls' with Pete Burns (from Dead Or Alive - yet another MASSIVE Memory artist). It didn't last much longer. Fast forward a decade later well into the 1980s when Julian Cope, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Dead Or Alive were all creating U.K. chart hits - and so was Pete. In between long stints with his band 'Wah!' he found success with this rockin' U.K. TOP 15 solo smash !	Pete Wylie & The Oedipus Wrecks
9	6	93	1986	Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel was the lead singer of Genesis from 1966 to 1975, and then he went solo. Much of his solo material in the '70s, '80s, and '90s was hit-or-miss here in the U.S., but there were two definite hits. In 1986 he had his biggest hit ever - this # 1 smash that actually replaced Genesis' "Invisible Touch" at # 1. "Sledgehammer" was one of the first singles ever to be released in CD format. The following year he released another smash - "Big Time" - which hit the TOP 10 stateside.	Peter Gabriel
2	14	327	1986 & 1989	Snooker Loopy Back in 1986 Snooker was as popular as it is today in the U.K., and this lager-drinking pub-singing Snooker-playing sing-along song featuring Snooker stars Tony Meo, Dennis Taylor, Terry Griffiths, Willie Thorne, and Steve Davis nearly hit the top of the pop chart back then. It actually spent 4 consecutive weeks at # 2 on our chart. If you feel like singing along then check out the complete lyrics on Chas & Dave's web site !	Matchroom Rob With Chas & Dave
1	19	466	1986	So Macho This early pop and nightclub dance smash was MASSIVE in the U.K. in 1986. It actually spent 28 non-consecutive weeks on the British TOP 75 chart that year, and it spent 19 consecutive weeks right here on this chart. Both numbers were extremely impressive for 1986. The Major still considers 1986 to be the 2ND greatest year in pop music history. The Major also found a fan web site for Sinitta titled "The Unofficial Sinitta! Tribute Web Site".	Sinitta
1	14	582	1986 & 1987	Sometimes This was Erasure's first hit on British radio. It took awhile for it to reach its # 2 peak on the U.K. chart, but it was an instant hit right here on this chart. It actually debuted on this chart at # 6, and it hit # 1 less than a month later.	Erasure
1	20	635	1986	Stuck With You It was the 2ND of 3 U.S. # 1 hits for Huey Lewis & The News during a 19-month span from 1985 to 1987. It was their 1ST single off of their 4TH album amusingly titled "Fore !". This is a bonafide love song. Case-in-point: They've had some fun. They've had their ups and downs. They've been down that rocky road, but the're still around. They thought about someone else. They thought about breaking up. Nevertheless it's true. They are so happy to be stuck on each other.	Huey Lewis & The News
22	5	63	1986	Tender Love This 1986 U.S. TOP 10 hit was featured in the movie "Krush Groove" which also contained hit music of the time from Sheila E., Run-D.M.C., The Fat Boys, and Kurtis Blow. The 'M.D.' actually stood for 'Musical Diversity'. Nowadays quite a few R & B hits sort of sound like this original hit, but there's only one original.	Force M.D.'s
6	11	311	1986 & 1987	The Final Countdown Europe - the Swedish rock band that is - invaded our chart (and many other hit music charts all around the world) during the Winter Of 1986. In the U.K. all it took was a LIVE "Tops Of The Pops" performance of this rockin' smash on Thursday November 20th 1986 on BBC-1 to rocket it to the # 1 spot on the BBC-Gallup Top 40 chart. It also hit # 1 on some two dozen other pop charts all around the world.	Europe
1	7	187	1986	The Phantom Of The Opera "The Phantom Of The Opera" was an Academy Award nominated hit at the box office in January 2005, but nothing beats the original 1986 London cast featuring (among others) Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. This stage musical was so prevalent in the U.K. in 1986 that it actually spawned 3 TOP 10 singles on the U.K. pop chart including this title track that became our 10TH # 1 hit early on in our chart existence. Other hits from the original musical included "All I Ask Of You" (Cliff Richard & Sarah Brightman) and "The Music Of The Night" (Michael Crawford). No wonder it's sold nearly 25 million units over the past 19 years !	Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley
1	19	484	1986 & 1989	The Spirit In The Sky Norman Greenbaum took his "Spirit In The Sky" all the way to # 1 in the U.K. for 2 weeks in May 1970. 16 years later the psychedelic Doctor & The Medics took their version of it back to # 1 for 3 weeks in June 1986. It hit # 1 in some 2-dozen countries that Summer, and it was also at # 1 for 5 of our charts (which were occasionally done semiweekly at the time). They followed it up with another # 1 smash - "Burn" - and "Waterloo" (a # 7 hit).	Doctor & The Medics
11	12	231	1986 & 1990	The Way It Is I actually didn't think too much of this song when it was active on the pop charts. I even saw Bruce Hornsby & The Range LIVE in concert about a month after it had run its course in the U.K. They opened for Huey Lewis & The News at London's Hammersmith Odeon. Some songs are instant favourites and remain that way as time goes on. Some are favourites at first but then fade out and eventually become forgotten over time. This song has aged gracefully over the past nearly two decades, and it now ranks up there as one of my favourite songs of all time ! That's just "The Way It Is". Some things will never change.	Bruce Hornsby & The Range
3	15	407	1986	Too Good To Be Forgotten This female British cover band scored a string of hits on the U.K. pop chart from 1985 to 1987, and this - their 4TH release - was the biggest of them all. It went TOP 5 on the U.K. chart, and it spent 5 weeks in a row at # 3 right here on our own young pop chart at the time.	Amazulu
33	8	60	1986	Two Of Hearts Two of hearts. Two hearts that beat as one. Two of hearts. I need you. I need you ... Once upon a time Stacey (Swain) was a disco star, and then she disappeared after the 1980s had ended. In 2002 she suddenly reappeared out of nowhere on the short-lived VH1 series "Never Mind The Buzzcocks". She was on the 3RD (of 5) episodes as part of the identity parade. (I missed it.)	Stacey Q
1	11	415	1986	(Waiting For) The Ghost Train This was written as the farewell song to the saga that was Madness during the early-1980s. It was included on a compilation album that contained all of their big hits up to that point - "Utter Madness". There's an excellent homemade web site devoted to Madness - MadNet - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/cbyrne/MadNet.	Madness
5	6	129	1986	We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off Jermaine Stewart was born in Columbus Ohio. After his stint as a "Soul Train" dancer he enjoyed his greatest success overseas in the U.K. and Europe. This # 2 U.K. chart smash was marketed under the censoured title of "We Don't Have To ..." It spent two weeks at # 5 here on our chart. Jermaine unfortunately died of liver cancer at the age of 39 on March 17th 1997.	Jermaine Stewart
1	11	392	1986 & 1991	We Love You It's from one of the greatest acts in pop music history (OMD) from one of the greatest albums in pop music history ("The Pacific Age") from one of the greatest years in pop music history (1986). 16 years ago The Major was an Airman, and he was also a teenager living in southern England. On Tuesday October 28th 1986 he and a friend went to the Oxford Apollo to see OMD live in concert. Their opening act - The Big Supreme ("Don't Walk").	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
17	8	113	1986	Why Can't This Be Love ? Van Halen scored 16 U.S. TOP 40 hits from 1978 to 1995. 7 of their hits were with original lead singer David Lee Roth, and the other 9 hits were courtesy of their next lead singer Sammy Hagar. This was the first of their 9 hits with the latter (and their biggest) - a TOP 3 smash on the U.S. pop chart. It's from their "5150" album which took its name from the name of the studio in Hollywood California where it was recorded at in 1985.	Van Halen
7	10	194	1986	(You Must Be Out Of Your) Brilliant Mind I don't know why I remember this song, but I've never forgotten it. Furniture was an obscure U.K. pop band that was founded in 1981 and dissolved in 1991. Jim Irvin was the lead singer of the quintet. This was their only hit single on the U.K. pop chart where it reached # 21 in July 1986. A follow-up single - "Love Your Shoes" - went nowhere on the charts. Apparently there are others in the world who remember Furniture. Check out this personal tribute page.	Furniture